How To: Setup a Picture Password or PIN

Microsoft allows you to setup a Picture Password or a 4 digit PIN to simplify logging into your Surface tablet.

If you don’t know about picture passwords, they’re a mechanism to let you draw a pattern on the screen to act as the password to unlock or log in to your Surface.

A PIN is just a 4 digit Personal Identification Number (if you ever wondered what PIN stood for) like you use for your ATM or debit card.

Both options a lot more convenient than typing out a long password but have some security ramifications. I’m not going to go into those in this article but you can read up a little about them at Security Nirvana. I’m assuming you’re a big boy or girl and can make the convenience vs. security call yourself. I’m just going to show you how to setup a picture password or PIN.

Setup a Picture Password or PIN: Setup a Picture Password

Find a nice picture that you want to use for your picture password

Make sure it’s in your Pictures folder on your Surface or in your OneDrive

Go to the Charms bar (swipe in from the right side of the screen)

Click the Settings charm

Select Change PC Settings

Select Accounts then Sign-in Options

Under Sign-in options select Create a picture password. You will be prompted for your full password, enter it

Now, you’ll get a screen with a Choose picture button. Tap it. Find the picture you want to use and select it then, click the Use this picture button when the How’s this look? screen appears

Draw your gestures on the screen. You will have to have 3 different gestures

Confirm those gestures. If you make a mistake, click Start over to try again

Click Finish to complete the setup of a picture password for your Surface

Pretty easy. Now let’s go over how to setup a PIN instead. It’s pretty much the same thing but not quite as many steps.

Setup a Picture Password or PIN: Setup a PIN

Go to the Charms bar (swipe in from the right side of the screen)

Click the Settings charm

Select Change PC Settings

Select Accounts then under Sign-in options select Create a PIN

You will be prompted for your full password, enter it

Next you’ll be asked for your PIN, enter and confirm it

That’s it. Simple, huh? So now instead of needing to enter a long password, you’ll just have to punch in a 4 digit PIN to access your device. It’s a lot quicker than entering a long alphanumeric password but has the previously mentioned security concerns.

It’s up to you to decide which is more important; security or convenience.

In case you’re wondering; yes you can have both a picture password and a PIN. You can switch between them via the sign-in options item below the password or PIN fields. If you’re using a picture password, you’ll have to click the Switch to password button first to see it.